Do you also suffer from misophonia?
Last weekend I had a sleepover where I spent half the night staring at the ceiling. And it wasn't because there was an incredibly attractive body next to me, nor because I had danced the legs off my body and therefore couldn't sleep anymore. There was a snoring person (won't name names) in the same room. And at such moments, I get overwhelmed by anger and irritation. So much so that I can forget the remaining hours of sleep. And I have many more of those sounds that annoy me. Why do I find it perfectly fine to sit alone in the evening with my plate on my lap? The absence of smacking and chewing from a dining companion. I just can't handle it.
Are you also the type that reacts to these kinds of human sounds with a crazy amount of anger or disgust? For the first time, there is scientific evidence that it could be that you suffer from a condition. People with misophonia, or the hatred of sound, experience feelings of irritation, disgust, and anger at innocent and usually human-made sounds. And it can go so far that they prefer to avoid these sounds as much as possible and thus no longer go outside, purely for self-protection.
The scientists studied twenty people with misophonia and 22 people without complaints. They all heard three different sounds; a normal sound like rain, an extreme sound like screaming, and a sound that people with misophonia cannot stand, such as snoring. The scientists observed a difference in the part of the brain where our emotions are regulated in people with misophonia. This deviation would cause a short circuit when these people hear these ’trigger sounds’.
Thank goodness I'm not the only one. In fact, last summer it turned out that the AMC can hardly cope with the influx of people seeking help for misophonia. If you want to be treated, there's a good chance you'll have to wait a year first. Now let's hope it's not too late by then. Misophonia seems to be so severe that marriages end in divorce or that mothers or fathers no longer sit at the kitchen table during dinner.
So it's a good thing that my lovely colleagues around me prefer to nibble on wine gums instead of an apple. Otherwise, I would probably have already secured a spot in the kitchen... And Mr. Perfect, I hope you don't snore!
